Ten Doeschate stars as Legends go through

Sharjah: Dutchman Ryan ten Doeschate smashed his second half-century of the competition as the Balkh Legends became the first team to confirm their semi-final spot with a 89-run win over Paktia Legends in the Afghanistan Premier League (APL) on Saturday.

The lopsided result sees the Balkh Legends at the top of the table with eight points, while the Paktia Panthers and Kabul Zwanan remain in second and third with six points apiece. A win for the Nangarhar Leopards in Saturday’s late game will push the Venkatesh Prasad-coached team with six points, leaving the Kandahar Knights to play just for pride from now on.

Thanks to the format of one side being eliminated after a double round-robin between the five teams, the remaining seven group encounters now turn into near inconsequential affairs — barring of course if the bottom-placed winless Kandahar Knights win their remaining four games.

If the early evening belonged to Ten Doeschate — a former three-time ICC Associate Player of the Year — as he smashed an unbeaten 74 off 41 balls, it was the bowlers who swung the match in favour of the Legends later.

Standing tall with ten Doeschate was Darwish Rasooli (44) and Ravi Bopara (26) as the Legends reached an imposing 195 for four in their allotted 20 overs in this top of the table clash. The 38-year-old Dutchman, who made an unbeaten 78 against the Kabul Zwanan earlier, anchored the innings with two crucial partnerships — 71 along with Rasooli and another 45 alongside Bopara.

Chris Gayle, one of the handful of iconic players here, disappointed once again making just 12 runs off 15 balls. Colin Munro (25) and Rasooli shored up the innings as the Legends crawled to 73 in the first 10 overs, before ten Doeschate brought up his half century with a six off Ahmadzai in the 18th over.

He then teamed up with skipper Mohammad Nabi — scoring eight in three balls — as the pair realised 29 off a mere nine balls to fall short of the 200-run mark by a mere five.

With close to 10 runs needed per over, the Panthers’ chase never really took off as they kept on losing wickets at regular intervals in the face of some accurate bowling from the Legends. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was the exception with his 33 runs coming off 22 balls, and once he fell to Gulbadin Naib the runs suddenly dried out as the run-rate soared to 12 with the last 60 deliveries left.

The tail had nothing much to offer as Bopara, Alam and Qais Ahmad cut through as the Panthers were bundled out for 106 in 15.2 overs. Bopara was the standout bowler with three victims for 17 runs in his three overs, while Qais Ahmad and Aftab Alam bagged two each.

Brief scores

Balkh Legends beat Paktia Panthers by 89 runs. Balkh Legends 195 for 4 in 20 overs (Colin Munro 25, Darwish Rasooli 44, Ryan ten Doeschate 74 not out, Ravi Bopara 26; Yamin Ahmadzai 1 for 55) vs Paktia Panthers 106 all out in 15.2 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 33, Ravi Bopara 3 for 17, Aftab Alam 2 for 29, Qais Ahmad 2 for 5). Man of the Match: Ryan ten Doeschate of Balkh Legends.

Sunday’s fixtures: Kabul Zwanan vs Balkh Legends (4pm); Nangarhar Leopards vs Paktia Panthers (8pm).